Molly's portraits

Here are the pictures we had taken of Molly about two weeks ago. I know I am biased, but I think they are so pretty!

Wearing her Bobbi sweater.

I guess I'm not the only one who can only get one to smile at a time. =)

February in review

OK, the month isn't actually over yet, but it feels like it has been such a long month that I'm ready to just call it done! For the first two weeks we had sick kids. Molly had some difficult nights, but neither of them was sick enough to be worried about - it was just a long stretch of sickness. Elijah especially just seemed to linger in the last stages of his cold for days and days. When they were finally getting better, I started to get sick and then Patrick got it a few days later. Neither of us has been even as sick as the kids were, but it's hard to not be feeling well when you can't really take a break. Patrick has had an extra busy month at work and has had to work some extra weekends and evenings, which makes him really tired and wears on all of us. I was sad that we've had to miss several weeks of church, too, but I certainly didn't want to be spreading our germs around. Thankfully we are both pretty much over being sick now.

The weather around here has actually not been too bad for the past few weeks! It's still cold, mostly, but we've had a number of days that were dry, less windy, a little less cold, and even somewhat sunny. I've been frustrated that we haven't been able to take better advantage of it and get outside - playing outside in February isn't the best idea when you're sick. We got to go out this morning for a little while for Elijah to run up and down the hills in the grass around our building, and it felt really good to be out!

In the little space between when the kids were almost better and when I started to feel sick, we got to do a couple of good things - we took Molly to get her picture taken (at 7 1/2 months instead of 6 months old, but oh well!) and Patrick and I got to out on a date. I was glad that we got the pictures done, and I was excited at how well they came out. Molly has recently become aware of "strangers" - or any adult that isn't Mama or Daddy - and she was a little fussy with the photographer at first, even though Patrick and I were right there. But she got over it well enough to give us some cute smiles and I think we got several great shots. I was also very excited to be able to go out with Patrick. It was fun to be out of the house and just have a long talk and spend some time together, and we're thankful that our friend Carole (she is Patrick's co-worker and just loves the kids) came to play and listen to the monitor so we could have some time away.

Working on it

Molly really wants to figure out how to crawl - she's working hard trying to get around the room ... and she looks like she's going to take off and go!

She really wants Elijah's toys.

But she can't quite get there!

Elijah's haircut

This morning, I gave Elijah a haircut. He was getting kinda scruffy, and waking up with all sorts of goofy looking styles. I try not to cut it too short, since it sticks up all funny around his cowlick in the back and on top and takes forever to grow out and lay down nicely again, but if I leave it longer then it does get a little long and wild after a while! Anyway, I did the best I could with the help of a Thomas video and a lolipop. It was a gross, sticky mess afterward, but we got it done!

Before we started - all wet.

All done.

Eight months old!

Molly turned 8 months old on Friday. Wow, she is growing up so fast! We are enjoying getting to know her growing personality and watching her learn and develop every day. Miss Molly sure has changed a lot in the past eight months! All that dark hair fell out, rubbed off, or lightened up so that it is now light brown, fuzzy, and just starting to grow a little longer! (Even her bald spot in the back is starting to fill in again now that she is sleeping on her tummy most of the time.) Her eyes are still dark gray or dark army green, depending on the day. It looks like they may stay a dark hazel permanently. She does take after Elijah quite a bit, both in looks and in the things she is doing at this age. They both loved to be swaddled and had to be weaned from it (rather sadly) when they got too big. Both have been pacifier babies and they both loved Cheerios from the very first try. Molly has been eating well, and (like Elijah did) likes pretty much anything you give her. She even loved the plain cereal from the very first day! I have been stripping her down to her diaper for most meals lately, though, because she just can't seem to keep her hands out of her mouth (and is therefore soon completely covered in drool and whatever she is eating). She must be ready for more finger foods!

The chubby cheeks and fuzzy hair in all their baby glory.

Molly is generally a very smiley baby who loves to laugh, and likes to be surprised. She is very ticklish! She especially likes to laugh along with Elijah (even if she has no idea why they're laughing), and she usually plays well by herself for a while. Her favorite games are peek-a-boo, tummy kisses, and horsey rides on my knee. Molly loves to cuddle, and even patiently enjoys clumsy love and kisses from big brother. Her favorite time of the day is her bath. She just laughs and is so excited that she kicks and flails around like crazy when I get her undressed at night - you really have to hang on to that little naked spaz-attack! It makes me laugh every time. Our little Missy is very impatient, though, and very vocal about it. In general, I think she's a much louder, more vocal baby than Elijah was - happy or sad. In the past couple of weeks she has stepped up from what I called "squawking" when she was bored or tired or wanted some attention, to a constant tattoo of screechy screaming when she doesn't get what she wants immediately. Lovely - I hope we outgrow that one soon! She isn't crawling yet, but she is trying to figure out how to get up onto all fours from her belly, and she has amazing balance when she is sitting up - she reaches and lunges all over the place, and even kicks her feet up without falling over.

Here's a little video of Molly playing with Daddy and making Elijah laugh.

Cozy morning shmuffins

Playing at the park

I really liked these pictures of Elijah playing at the park this week - I don't know why, but I couldn't pick just a couple. He had fun playing, and just being out of the house for a while!

Welcome, baby Brynn!

We are so excited to welcome our newest niece, Brynn Marie, who was born this morning to (Patrick's sister) Diane & Bill. Rylee is a big sister now! We are thankful for a healthy arrival, and we are looking forward to meeting our new little sweetie, whenever that may be. Congratulations, Diane, Bill, and Rylee!

OK, let's see, that makes the count 6 nieces and 1 nephew, and 3 of the 6 nieces born in February! Wow!

Happy Valentine's Day!

See those two little teeth?
(Click the picture to enlarge.)

Miss Molly

Just a few recent pictures of our little lady. Ain't she sweet?!

Lots of pictures

I took a bunch of pictures yesterday, so here's a big post of cute kid shots to make up for the light posting spell we've had the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

OK, can I have just one of you look at me and smile? Great!

Now, switch! You guys are naturals!

She's growing up so fast.

Nice profile shot of those crazy cheeks!

What a sweetie

Daddy's hat

Elijah had fun wearing Daddy's hat yesterday.

Pictures to go with last Friday's post

Miss Molly sleeping, sans swaddle, in the pack n' play so that she and Elijah don't keep each other up with their frequent waking/fussing. Naps are tough when you're sick.

Tickle time! Molly loves when Elijah plays with her.

Very Superior

Patrick and I each took this funny little quiz, and we each turned out to be Very Superior spouses! Ha ha! Although, I have to admit that he had a much higher score. Maybe I should start getting dressed and fixing my hair before breakfast instead of after lunch. =)

125 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Sickos and other news

Well, we have two sick kids right now. Elijah has had a cold all week. Molly had a bit of a runny nose but I thought she was going to miss the worst of it, until Wednesday night, when she started coughing and generally having a hard time. So she's actually had it worse than Elijah for a couple of days, but so far no real fever or coughing scary enough to go to the doctor. We had a long night last night though!

In other news, Miss Molly is now sleeping without her swaddle blanket. I've been putting it off for a while now, but she was just getting too big for it. We started with one arm out a couple of weeks ago, and she's been completely free for more than a week. It was a rough transition, but I'm thankful that it's over. She is sleeping either on her side or on her tummy most of the time now, and I think she'll be sleeping better because of that (we'll see after she gets well again). Hopefully now she will learn to put her own pacifier back in at night! =)

It was really cold here again for the past couple of days, and last night we had heat issues again. No pipes burst this time, but we spent the night with space heaters running in all four apartments in our building to prevent it, and to keep our poor sick babies warm!

Awwww, so cute!

Happy girl in her jumper, before the sickness hit.

Elijah resting on the couch when he wasn't feeling so hot earlier this week.